Japan floods: Three dead and dozens missing in Typhoon Etau aftermath

Fresh warnings have been issued for heavy rain and landslides across eastern and north-eastern Japan

A woman wades through a residential area flooded in Joso, Ibaraki (Reuters)

At least three people have died and dozens are missing after severe flooding that has devastated cities in north-east Japan.

Two women and a man were killed and at least 27 have been injured - eight seriously - according to the BBC.

It has reported that at least 26 people are missing, with the majority of them in and around Joso city in Ibaraki, 34 miles north-east of the country’s capital Tokyo, where the Kinugawa river burst through a flood barrier on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people are stranded, including several pensioners, in the aftermath of the flooding, caused by heavy rain in the wake of Typhoon Etau, which swept through the region earlier this week.

An aerial view shows houses and rice fields flooded by the Shibui river in Osaki, Miyagi (Reuters)

Houses have been ripped from their foundations and 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

The Japan Meteorological Agency called it an “unprecedented” downpour.

Officials confirmed that a 63-year-old woman was killed when her house was hit by a landslide in Kanuma City in Tochigi, the BBC reports.

Destroyed street and electric power poles in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan (Reuters)

Another woman, aged 48, died after her car was swept away in Kurihara city in Miyagi.

A man also died after falling into a drain he was trying to clear in Nikko, Tochigi.

The country’s Meteorological Agency has issued fresh alerts for heavy rain, warning rivers in Tochigi, Ibaraki and Niigata could burst their banks today, with the possibility of landslides across eastern and north-eastern Japan.